Prairie Wildflowers
What is a Prairie? Prairies are treeless areas consisting of grasses, sedges, and forbs as the dominant ground vegetation. Prairie types can vary from wet to dry and are identified in accordance with their soil type (e.g., black soil prairie, sand prairie, dolomite prairie, gravel prairie) Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias hirtella) Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) American […]
Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias hirtella)
Native Range Blooms: June – August Habitat: Prairie Milkweed prefers full sun and dry to average moisture. Look for Prairie Milkweed in prairies, meadows, and glades.
Clasping Milkweed (Asclepias amplexicaulis)
Native Range Blooms: June – August Habitat: Clasping Milkweed prefers sandy soil and can be found in open woods, along roadsides, and in old fields.
Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum)
Native Range Blooms: June – August Habitat: Wood Lily develops slowly and prefers full or partial sun with moist to mesic conditions. Look for Wood Lilies in wooded bluffs, black soil prairies, sand prairies, grassy meadows, and clearings through natural areas. Prairie Lily is typically found in high quality natural areas.
Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
Native Range Blooms: April – June Habitat: Prairie smoke prefers full sun, mesic to dry conditions, and a gravelly, or sandy soil. Look for Prairie Smoke in sand prairies and dry fields. This species is typically found in high quality prairies where the vegetation is neither too dense nor tall.
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Native Range Blooms: August – October Habitat: Obedient Plant prefers full or partial sun, and moist to average conditions. Look for Obedient plant in moist soil, along streams, and in wet fields and prairies.
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Native Range Blooms: June – August Habitat: Wild Bergamot grows in full or partial sun, and moist to slightly dry conditions. Look for Wild Bergamot in black soil prairies, Black Oak woodlands, savannas and woodland borders, thickets, and abandoned pastures, and landfills.
Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor)
Native Range Blooms: July – October Habitat: Field Thistle prefers full sun, loamy soil, and mesic levels of moisture. Look for Field Thistle in moist to dry prairies, woodland openings, moist meadows, pastures and abandoned fields, and along railroads and roadsides.
Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
Native Range Prairie WildflowerBlooms: July – September Habitat: Whorled Milkweed prefers full sun and mesic to dry conditions. Look for Whorled Milkweed in dry fields, prairies, sandy open woods, and along roadsides.
Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum)
Native Range Blooms: July – August Habitat: Nodding Onion prefers full to partial sun and moist to mesic conditions. Look for Nodding Onion in black soil prairies, sandy pannes, open wetlands, swales, lakeshores, wet ditches and thinly wooded bluffs.